1. By Jason Huang, Jordan Bingham, and Meiwei Xiao

2. How is acid rain created?
 Factories produce bad things called sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxide and release them into the air (yellow dots in picture)
When sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide combine with the air acid
rain is created

3. Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are
pollutants
• They escape through
smokestacks, chimneys, and tailpipes
• Over 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxide move into the atmosphere
each year

4. Sulfuric Acid and Nitric Acid
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide can fall to
earth as dust
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide can become
trapped by moisture in clouds
– When combined with water they form acid
(sulfuric acid and nitric acid)
– They then fall to earth in rain, snow, sleet, hail, or
fog (acid rain)

6. Acid Rain Harms Ecosystems
• A little acid rain is normal
• A lot of acid rain harms a lot of ecosystems
 Especially aquatic ones
• Some animals are more sensitive to acid then
others
 Adult wood frog can live in water with a pH level of 4 but rainbow
trout and smallmouth bass can’t live below pH of 5
• Too much acid rain in soil might harm plants’ root
systems
• Acid rain damages leaves on trees and changes soil

8. Solution
• Burning fossil fuels create pollutants that form
acid rain
• We use fossil fuels to heat, cool, and light our
houses and fossil fuels run cars, cook
food, and run machinery
• We should walk or bike instead of
drive, carpool, turn down heat in our
homes, and turn off lights in our homes!